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August 27, 1999/15 Elul 5759, Vol. 51, No.47
Gladness is Jewish value
Torah Study
RABBI SHLOMO RISKIN
Ki Tavo/Deuteronomy 26:1 - 29:8
To what extent is joy a Jewish value? It is abundantly clear from Ki Tavo, this week's Torah portion, that a Jew is required to serve God joyfully. The portion comprises blessings and curses, and even within the fabric of the curses, there is one significant blessing, albeit in disguise.
At midpoint in the 53 verses concentrating on the curses awaiting the Jewish people if they do not act properly, the Torah summarizes the events up to that time: "All these curses shall befall you; they shall pursue you and overtake you, until you are wiped out, because you did not heed ... God and keep the commandments and laws that (God) enjoined upon you. ... Because you would not serve ... God in joy (b'simcha) and gladness over the abundance of everything, you shall have to serve ... (your) enemies" (Deuteronomy 28:45-48).
Why is it so important to serve God in joy? A positive frame of mind is the necessary conclusion of sincere Jewish faith. The Bible begins with a moment of divine creation, testimony to the idea that life has an organized creator and guide, that it is not an accidental "tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing" ("Macbeth," William Shakespeare).
To the contrary, the nation of Israel is guaranteed eternal life and a leadership role in the eventual millennium of peace and good fortune for every human being.
It is this faith in ourselves, our nation, our God and God's world that enabled us to blow the shofar sounds even while fleeing the Nazis, and to drink the four Passover wine cups of freedom even in Communist Siberia. We exultantly proclaim "Next year in Jerusalem" at the conclusion of every Yom Kippur fast and Passover seder. The Torah admonishes us to serve our God in joy; conduct expressing sadness reflects a lack of faith in our historic destiny.
If joy is so crucial, why does this concept appear in the midst of admonitions found in Deuteronomy, while it was absent in similar admonitions related in Leviticus? In the first four books of the Bible, simcha (joy) is mentioned only three times. Yet in the Book of Deuteronomy, references to joy appear more than 10 times - when the Torah describes the festivals as they are to be celebrated in Israel, and our state of mind when bringing first-fruit offerings.
Ki Tavo, for example, exquisitely describes the bikkurim (fruits), concluding with the exact words the farmer was required to intone to the priest when he brought his produce to Jerusalem. The offering is wholly identified with the joy of having come full circle from the precarious life of a slave to a free human being on our own Israeli soil. It is the stuff of heroic transformation: The farmer shall set the basket down before God and shall "enjoy, together with the Levite and the stranger in your midst, all the bounty that ... God has bestowed" (Deuteronomy 26:11).
Notwithstanding our compliance with the laws of the Torah, it is crucial that we serve God with a glad heart, with the joy of acknowledging God's goodness, whose source is to be found in the ceremony of first fruits - our own produce grown in our own land.
Deuteronomy, particularly this week's portion, emphasizes our entrance into our land. The opening verse begins, "When you enter the land ... God is giving you as a heritage" (Deuteronomy 26:1). Only now, with the narrative of joy on the lips of the farmer still audible, can we introduce this prerequisite of joy as integral to divine service. The divine presence can only be invoked in an atmosphere of joy, and - except for celebrating holidays - there is no joy of independence or sense of destiny outside our own land.
Wherever the Jew finds himself, no matter how she may be forced to suffer, the Jew ought not fall prey to depression, as this would express a lack of faith in the divine guarantee of our return to Israel and our ultimate redemption.
And especially in Israel, the Jew must be so aware of divine beneficence and the role each Jew plays in realizing our historic destiny, that he must continually serve God in joy. To do any less would express ingratitude, leading - God forbid - to our serving our enemies in pain.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is the spiritual leader of the Jewish community in Efrat, Israel.
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